One Man Left Behind
by DarlingDiaries
Summary: Rating Due to Language. With her father in jail, and her mother and sister in a cult, Betty Cooper's life is far from being normal. Which is the opposite of what she wants. When Polly and Alice leave for the farm, Betty seizes the opportunity to make her life appear as normal as possible. Her secrets of living alone only known by her dearest friend, Veronica. For now, at least.
1. An Unexpected Visit

Introducing Scene: Hal, (the black hood) has just gone to jail under several charges of Homicide and the attempted murder of his wife and daughter, Alice and Betty Cooper. Polly, Betty's older sister, taking advantage the situation, convinced her mother of the powers of the farm. Attempting to do the same with Betty. After numerous trials and refusals with Betty, Polly and Alice leave, moving out to the farm together. Leaving Betty behind. For a few months, the blonde female lives on her own. Refusing to tell anyone of her issues except for her dear friend Veronica, for fear of shattering any last pieces of her reputation as the perfect girl next door . With the rare emotional support of Veronica when needed, the female gradually finds a way to get back on her feet. Getting a job at Pop's Chock Lit shop and supporting herself day by day. Life begins to smooth out for the Cooper teenager until one warm March morning before school.

Chapter One; An Unexpected Visit

'Beep! Beep! Beep!' the shrill call of an alarm rang through the Cooper house. Signifying the start of Betty Cooper's day. Groaning, the blonde sat up. Not snoozing her alarm until she was completely out of her bed and awake to avoid the risk of falling back asleep. It had taken the teenager three months, but she had finally gotten her morning schedule to a point. 5:00- Wake up. Shower. 5:30- Get dressed. Make breakfast. 6:00- Makeup. Head out for school. Betty's schedule ensured she was never in a panic to rush out of the door. Raking her hands through her hair, the female yawned and headed for her bathroom. Turning on the water and laying out towels and a fresh outfit. Stripping off her pajamas, the female stepped into the shower. Allowing the warm droplets of water hitting her skin to distract her from any thoughts of stress or work that lay ahead.

After a few moments of relaxing in the shower, Betty stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel. Ringing out the water in her hair with a smaller one. Once her hair was dry enough, she set down the towel heading back into her room and sitting down on her bed for a moment before getting dressed. Laying back, the blonde stared up at the ceiling that had shielded her from so much over the years. Sighing gently, the teenager smiled. Something told her today was going to be a good day. Sitting up, she glanced over at the outfit she had chosen which was laying on her dresser. Standing up and walking over, she grabbed her clothes and began to get dressed. Slipping on her undergarments and a pair of white skinny jeans. Mid way into pulling on her shirt, her doorbell rang out. Announcing someone at the door. Strange. Betty didn't recall making plans with someone this early. No matter. Pulling her shirt on all the way, Betty grabbed a hair-tie and began pulling her hair up into her neat, signature ponytail. With her hands raking her hair into place, she headed down the stairs. Another round of bombarding doorbell ringing starting again.

"Just a sec!" The female called out towards the door.

Looping her hair tie once more around before reaching for the door handle. Unlocking the door and twisting the metal knob, she swung open the large wood door. A look of surprise crossed the blondes face, quickly replaced with joy as she greeted her guest.

"Jughead! What're you doing here? You usually only walk me on Friday?" Betty said, both happy and confused at the sudden visit.

In the doorway stood Jughead, his motorcycle helmet under his arm and his beanie pulled on over his messy black hair.

"Betty. We should talk." The male said, his face a mix of anger and concern.

The blonde stopped in her tracks. Nodding and stepping out of the way so he could come in.

"Yeah- yeah sure. What's up?" The blonde said, racking through her mind trying to find what he may want to talk about.

Had he found out? No, of course not. Veronica had promised not to tell anyone.

"Where's your mom? Is she home?"Jughead questioned, looking around.

He already knew the answer. She was gone. Had been for months. The day previous, him and Veronica had been bickering. As they did on occasion, when Veronica spewed out that he was a terrible boyfriend for not knowing. Once Jughead asked for explanation, everything had come tumbling out. The truth about Betty. Her real reason for constantly being tired, the actual need for her job at pops.

"We're home alone right now. She just headed out. Heading up to visit Polly at the farm for a bit." The female responded almost too naturally. That's what she had been telling herself since they left.

Jughead let out a small laugh. Covering his eyes with his hand for a moment, she was lying.

"Jughead.. what's wrong?" The Cooper questioned, reaching out for his hand.

Pulling away, the irritated teenager stormed up the stairs, Betty following close behind. Turning at the top of the stairs, he headed for his girlfriend's parents room. Bursting through the door and looking around. Before him lay a barren room. Void of any life or human interaction of any sort.

"Jug… I can explain. She's-" Betty began, Jughead quickly cutting her off. Standing outside of the doorway staring at Jughead gently.

"Just out visiting Polly, right?" He said, turning back to her with a scowl. "When will you stop lying, Betty? Veronica told me everything. Ev-er-ry-thing!" The male said, breaking up the last word into it's beginning syllables.

"She what?" The female coughed out, her face going pale. "No. You! You weren't supposed to know. Nobody was!" The female said, clenching her hands into fists.

"And why not, Betty? Do you not trust me, or Archie? What reasoning could you possibly have behind keeping this sort of secret from me?" Jughead said, throwing his hands up into the air.

"No! Of course not! I trust you, I do! It's just-" the female paused. Searching for some way to word it without sounding selfish.

"Just- what, Betty? What?" Jughead said, impatient.

"I want the one good aspect of my life to remain, normal! Being the perfect girl next door is all I have left." Betty shouted out, she could feel the pressure of tears in her eyes. Blinking them back, she awaited some sort of reaction out of Jughead, a response of any kind.

"Betty, you don't have to be the perfect girl next door! Not around me, not around Arch or V." Jughead said, taking a step towards the blonde.

"I know I don't have to, Jug! But I want to be! My father is a murderer, my mother and sister are both part of some barn cult! Some part of my life has to be normal!" Betty choked out, blinking viciously in an attempt to rid her eyes of tears. "I… just wanna be normal, Juggie." She said, shifting her eyes to her feet as she spoke.

"Betty. Look at me." Jughead said, walking over and cupping her cheek. Tilting her head back up so he could meet her eyes. "Normal or not. You're still my Betty Cooper… and I'll love you. No matter what. You hear me?" Jughead said, looking into her soft green eyes.

"You're lucky I'm not wearing makeup Jughead Jones. Because you would have just ruined it." Betty said, with a small laugh.

"Well I do hope you'll forgive me, but I don't think I'm too sorry. I'm still upset at you for keeping this secret from me." The male said, moving his hand down from her face to her shoulders. "I'm worried about you. If I had known I could have helped." He said, looking at his girlfriend gently.

"That's exactly it, Jughead! That's why you shouldn't know. You shouldn't feel the need to help me! You were in the same situation as me at one point, worse even! And look at you now." The female paused, taking a breath to collect her thoughts. "You ended up with some aspect of your family back together. If I have any chance at that, I have to solve this on my own." She said, bringing up her hand to grab his off her shoulder. Intertwining their fingers as the Raven haired male thought of a response.

"Betty, there was a period of time where I stayed with Archie while everything smoothed out. You know that." The male said, pointing out the facts that his girlfriend had so obviously ignored.

"Yeah but-" She began, Jughead cutting her off.

"No buts. We both know that I started doing better when I stayed with Archie. You need people surrounding you a home. You shouldn't be alone so much." Jughead said, pausing so she could process his thinking. "Now, I'm not giving you an option on this because you're stubborn and with how previous portions of this conversation have gone, I'm assuming you won't be fond of this idea immediately." The male began. Pausing once more.

"Alright. I'm listening." The teenager said, somewhat confused as to what her boyfriend's mind could have conjured up as a solution.

"Four out of seven days of the week, I'm staying here, or you're staying in the trailer. Either way. You're in the same residents as me so I can confidently say I know you're getting enough sleep, eating, and everything is alright in that busy brain of yours." Jughead said. The statement wasn't up for debate. After being in the dark for so long, he needed some piece of mind that he helped.

"Fine. We'll talk about this later. Right now though, we need to get to school." The female said. She was somewhat irritated by the persistence of her boyfriend, yet also relieved. Being alone had grown tiring. Though she wasn't sure having Jughead on her about sleeping and eating was her idea of good company either.

"Good. Have you eaten yet?" The male asked. He knew that she would probably want to put on some sort of makeup, as she did most days. So if she needed to do that, he could go make her some breakfast. When the blonde shook her head, Jughead released her shoulders. "You go finish getting ready. I'll make you some food. Does toast sound okay?" The male asked, heading towards the stairs.

"Actually there are some grapes in the fridge. If you could just put some of those into a bag that'd be great." The female said with a smile, Jughead nodding and giving a thumbs up in response as he headed down the stairs. Turning and heading towards her room, she sat down and began on the small task of applying her makeup. Downstairs, Jughead fished through the fridge. Pulling out a large bag of green grapes and grabbing a few off the stem, washing them off and setting them on the counter while he fished around cabinets and drawers for a bag to put them in. After a moment, he found them in a small drawer next to the stove. Pulling a plastic baggie from the box within the drawer, Jughead walked back over to the counter with the grapes. Scooping them up and placing them into the bag. Zipping it shut. Almost a second later, Betty came hopping down the stairs. Walking over to Jughead with a smile, she grabbed the bag. Thanking him with a kiss.

"We should get going. We'll have to run at this rate." The female said, opening the bag and popping a grape into her mouth.

"I rode my bike here. Let's just ride it to school" Jughead suggested in response. Nodding his head towards the helmet he had left by the front door.

"Fine. Just this once, though. My hair always gets messed up somehow on your bike, though." The Blonde responded, taking his hand and heading towards the front door. The two headed down her drveway and towards Jugheads motorcycle and off towards the rest of their day.


	2. Confrontation

Betty and Jughead pulled up on the motorcycle with time to spare before school began. Putting the vehicle in park, Jughead stepped off the bike, offering Betty a hand as she did the same.

"Thanks for the ride."Betty cooed, planting a small kiss on his cheek. "Now I do hope you'll excuse me. I have business to attend to." The female said, turning and heading off after a nod of acknowledgement from Jughead. As she turned and walked away, her signature blonde ponytail swayed, carrying the same confidence she did as she walked. Her usually clear eyes dark with irritation as she seeked out her dearest friend, Veronica.

Jughead smiled gently, pleased with how the morning had begun. An issue he feared may ruin the two's relationship was that of a minor concern for now. Watching as his girlfriend headed into the school, he began to do the same. The two entering the building and heading in different directions.

With a few quick turns, and the bumping of shoulders, Betty made her way quickly towards the lounge. Her first guess at where Veronica may be. Stopping at the entryway, she scanned through the faces looking for Veronica. The Cooper teenager's hunch was quickly proven correct as she caught sight of Veronica, sitting cozily on the couch next to Archie. The two chatting about something unknown to Betty. Stepping into the room, she headed over towards where her friends were. Stopping and crossing her arms, she stood in front of Veronica, awaiting the acknowledgement of her presence. After a moment, anger over took the blonde and she grew impatient announcing her presence to the two.

"Veronica." Was all Betty could manage out without losing it. She wanted to give her friend that benefit of the doubt, to hear her out. But being in her presence, knowing that Veronica had gone behind her back, behind their promise. It enraged her.

"Oh! Hey, B." Veronica said, somewhat startled by the sudden interruption. Veronica had been waiting for Betty, though. Unsure whether or not Jughead and spilled their incident or not. Judging by the glare on her best friends face, she was guessing it was the first option. That or something else was horribly wrong. "What's the matter Betty? You seem upset" She asked, attempting to feel out the situation.

"Damn right, I'm upset. Are you really trying to act like you're not sure what's going on right now?" Betty said, her hands waving as she spoke, emphasising her irritation. Veronica's face filled with regret as Betty spoke. The dark haired female had known this was coming, so why should was so surprised she was unsure. Archie looked between the two with confusion. Opening his mouth to question what was going on before being cut off.

"Betty, let me explain-" Veronica began, pushing out of Archie's arms and standing up so she could talk with her friend eye to eye.

"How many people know, Veronica? How many people have you spilled my secrets to in the heat of argument? Does Archie know?" Betty hissed, her piercing green eyes drilling holes through Veronica.

"Just Jughead… he's the only one who knows. Betty, please. Let me explain." Veronica said, hurt by her friends words but still trying to form her own.

"Well I'd say that's a relief but at this point it doesn't really matter. Thanks one person I didn't want knowing, knows. What were you thinking?" Betty said, clenching her hands into fists, using the pain to soothe her nerves. Giving her friend a chance to speak.

"We were arguing. I was just so… worried. Worried about you. Worried about the damage that secret would have on your relationship. You have to understand. I didn't do it to spite you!" Veronica said, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she rambled.

"You promised! You promised that you wouldn't tell anyone without me there or at all! I don't care if you were worried. I was finel on my own! If you were so concerned you should have just come and check up on me. Not rat me out!" Betty said, her anger turning into pain as she spoke. Her friend had gone and stabbed her in the back. "I stood by you, so many times. I was there when you had to tell Ethel about your dad. The whole time. I let you do things on your time. So why couldn't you let me do things in my time?" The female said, stepping away. She could feel the pressure of tears against her eyes. She wasn't going to cry in front of them. She couldn't.

"Betty, I'm sorry. I just wanted to help-" Veronica began, Betty quickly cutting her off.

"Well, you didn't. And from now on, don't… I don't care what you think your doing. Just. Don't. Do it." The female said, emphasising the last four words before hurrying off. Wiping her arms angrily against her eyes as she made her way for the women's locker room where she could only hope to be alone. Pushing her forearms against the door, she swung it open. Hiccuping a sob as she scurried for a bench to collapse on.

Veronica stood in the lounge, staring at the back of her friends head as she stormed out of the room. She hadn't noticed the feeling of eyes on her until Betty had left the room. She could feel the pressure of everyone watching her, wanting some sort of reaction or outburst from her. Standing up, Archie took her hand in his. Wrapping her in his arms.

"Want to talk about it?" The male said gently, holding his girlfriend close in an attempt to comfort her.

"I've messed up Arch. I've messed everything up." She said, still unsure how to react. She hadn't expected that reaction out of Betty. Sure, she knew the blonde would be upset but, Veronica had seen much more than anger on her friends face. She'd seen pain, and regret. The two emotions on Betty took her by surprise, they looked so unnatural on the usually grinning female.

"How about we talk about it at lunch? When you two have both calmed down. It'll be alright." The Ginger said, reassuringly. Thanks bell had just rung. Signifying the begging of the school day. Nodding, Veronica gave her boyfriend a thank you kiss before heading off to her first class. She just had to make it to lunch, that's all.

Betty sniffled, looking up at the speaker as it rang. Class. Standing up, the female composed herself, using her phone screen to fix any smudged makeup on her face. Taking in a shaky breath, she shoved her phone into her pocket and walked out of the locker room. Making a small trip to her locker to grab her books for first period.

"Care to explain to me why you were crying in the locker room, dear cousin?" Betty flinched as the female spoke. Cheryl.

"It was nothing Cheryl." Betty said, closing her door with one hand, her books clasped in her other.

"Strange. It sure didn't sound like nothing." The female said coldly in response.

"I said! It was nothing. Let. It. Go, Cheryl." The female barked, turning swiftly on her heel and walking off to class. Wiping any signs of irritation off her face and replacing them with a neutral, friendly expression. Negative thoughts still whirring around in her mind. Shaking off, the female took a deep breath. Betty Cooper would not lose to her darkness today. Not if she had and say in it.


End file.
